Using MLB.TV During the Offseason: 10 Best Miami Marlins Games

It’s a long time from the end of the season to Spring Training. What’s a starving baseball fan to do?

It’s been 70 days since the Miami Marlins took the field and lost to the New York Mets, 1-0 to close the 2018 season. It’s still 108 days until 2019’s Opening Day, at Marlins Park against the Colorado Rockies. Although there’s still plenty of headlines through the offseason, there’s no actual baseball to watch on MLB.TV.

Or is there?

MLB.TV has been streaming video for 18 years now. Generally, you can watch games for the past three seasons. If past behavior is an indicator of future behavior, then we can expect them to take down the 2016 games when the first game of Spring Training commences.

Do you find yourself pining for some Miami Marlins baseball? I know, everyone in the world outside of our little Marlins fiefdom thinks it’s some kind of running joke. So funny. Oh look, they’re going to scare off the Marlins fans, both of them. Haha. What a riot. So original.

One of the reasons that I like baseball so much is that even the very best teams lose 60 times a year. Even the very worst win at least 60. That was the case this season with the Miami Marlins. A 63-98 record is nothing to write home about, to be sure. There were still memorable moments, and memorable games.

I used Fangraphs.com to parse some Wins Probability Added data. More specifically, I focused on total WPA+ for both teams, added together, to isolate a very specific kind of game. A high WPA+ indicates a lot of momentum shifts, and big chances for both teams to win. To account for extra innings, I simply divided every game by the amount of innings they played, and multiplied by nine. Of course, the Marlins lost more than they won, but on 63 occasions through the 2018 season, we had cause to celebrate.

Items of Interest

Best Marlins Performance in a Loss

On August 28th, the Miami Marlins lost an 8-7, nine-inning game to the eventual World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. In that contest, the Marlins and Red Sox racked up a total WPA+ of 5.44, by far the most “exciting” game of the season. In the end, the contest was lost in walkoff fashion on a JT Riddle throwing error. Before then we saw an Isaac Galloway solo shot in the third, a two-run J.T. Realmuto shot and a Starlin Castro dinger in the eighth to tie it at four. Rafael Ortega brought two home for a 6-4 lead before that inning was over. After Tayron Guerrero coughed up three runs in the bottom of the frame, Magneuris Sierra singled home Yadiel Rivera to tie it in the top of the ninth.

Most Boring Game of the Season

On August 4th, the Philadelphia Phillies topped the Miami Marlins 8-3 in a contest that was never really close. The two clubs combined for a 0.90 WPA+, the lowest total of the 2018 season.

The Phils jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Justin Bour homered in the fifth inning. The Phillies then scored three more runs over the next two innings. Miguel Rojas added a two-run shot in the eighth, but it was way too little, and didn’t make a dent in Miami’s Win Probability.

Most Boring Miami Marlins Win of the Season

On May 28th, the Marlins topped the San Diego Padres, 7-2. The Marlins scored four runs in the first inning on a Castro RBI-single, a Cameron Maybin RBI-single, and a Rivera two-RBI single to take a lead they wouldn’t at any time be in danger of losing. The Padres put one on the board in the second, but they wouldn’t get any closer the rest of the way.

Maybin added another RBI-single in the third, and in the top of the ninth, Derek Dietrich doubled a run home and Rojas added an RBI-single. Hunter Renfroe knocked home Christian Villanueva with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn’t an impactful RBI. Total WPA+ for the game was 1.15, the lowest of the year in a Marlins victory.

Most “Average” Game of the Season

On August 3rd, the Phillies topped the Marlins, 5-1 in a regular, average, nine-inning contest. 80 games had a higher WPA+, and 80 games had a lower one than the 2.30 the two teams totaled on that day. Brian Anderson accounted for Miami’s run in the eighth inning, on a single that scored Sierra and got the Marlins within a run. The Phils scored three in the bottom of the inning to put an end to that.

With that, lets take a look at the 10 best Miami Marlins victories of the season that you can watch on MLB.TV.

On May 23rd, the Miami Marlins visited the New York Mets at Citi Field trying to split a six-game road trip.

Eventual National League Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom was in fine form throughout, striking out eight Marlins in seven shutout innings. Dan Straily nearly matched him. Straily whiffed five in six innings, with a Brandon Nimmo solo shot in the fifth inning marring his otherwise scoreless outing.

Nick Wittgren worked a perfect seventh, and Adam Conley earned his first win of the season with a scoreless eighth.

In the ninth inning, Mets closer Jeurys Familia came in to shut the door on the Marlins for a 1-0 victory, but it didn’t happen that way. After a Lewis Brinson groundout, Martin Prado singled into left field to put the game-tying run on first. Derek Dietrich doubled into right field, bringing pinch-runner Yadiel Rivera to third base.

With runners on the corners and only one out, J.T. Realmuto singled to score Rivera. Dietrich came around, but was thrown out at the plate by center fielder Michael Conforto. With two out and the winning run on second base, Familia intentionally walked Justin Bour, then Realmuto came home on a Starlin Castro RBI-single.

Marlins closer Brad Ziegler collected his ninth save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning.

The win was huge for us, to be able to finish the road trip on a positive note. It was good to win the series against a real good team over there. Hopefully, we can carry some momentum into the homestand. – Realmuto, as reported on MLB.COM by Bill Ladson.

On June 5th, Jose Urena, who had started out the season with seven losing decisions in his first 12 starts, finally got into the win column.

It was hardly Urena’s best start, as he surrendered four earned runs in five innings, on 10 hits, a walk, and a wild pitch. Urena struck out three.

The Cards struck first, with a Yadiel Molina RBI-single in the second. In the third, Justin Bour brought one home on a non-RBI double play ball, and Brian Anderson hit a go-ahead single for a 2-1 led.

St. Louis scored on a Tommy Pham double play ball to tie it in the bottom of the third, and the score would remain tied at two until the fifth.

Bour brought home Derek Dietrich with a sacrifice fly in that inning, followed by a two-run jack courtesy of rookie Brian Anderson for a 5-2 lead.

St. Louis wasn’t done yet, though. Pham collected an RBI-groundout and Marcell Ozuna singled Jose Martinez home to get the Redbirds to within a run and pretty much chase Urena. JT Riddle hit a solo shot in the sixth, and Dietrich added some insurance with a sacrifice fly to set the final score in the bottom of the sixth.

It’s good to get Jose on the board, honestly. He’s pitched pretty good [this year]. Tonight, it seemed like one of those nights he didn’t have his great stuff, but he hung in there enough, and the boys were swinging the bats a little bit, so it ended up being big for him. – Don Mattingly, as quoted by Joe Frisaro on MLB.COM

On May 16th, J.T. Realmuto provided the winning home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers, getting a hit against them in a 22nd contest. He had never gone hitless against the Trolley Dodgers previously.

Elieser Hernandez put in a fine start, allowing one run on three hits in five innings. He was more than a match for opposing hurler Walker Buehler, who gave up five runs in the same frame of time.

Brian Anderson opened the hit parade in the bottom of the first on an RBI-single into center field, then Starlin Castro added one in the third for a 2-0 lead.

Yasmani Grandal got one of those back in the fourth with his seventh round-tripper of the campaign.

The fifth inning would see Justin Bour connect for a two-run tater, and Miguel Rojas add one on a sacrifice fly for a 5-1 lead. Pretty good right?

Enter Junichi Tazawa. In just a third of an inning, Tazawa surrendered three runs, on a Joc Pederson double, a Grandal RBI-single, and a Cody Bellinger double. Drew Steckenrider came in to clean up, but allowed two inherited runners to score, both credited to Tazawa.

Realmuto dealt the killing stroke in the bottom of the sixth with his sixth homer of the season for a 6-5 lead. Steckenrider, Kyle Barraclough, and Brad Ziegler finished the last three frames without incident, and sent the home fans home happy.

I think there is a little psychological [edge], every time you face that team, they look at you as a guy who can really swing the bat. Another team may look at him differently because they’ve got him out. They don’t have the same thought process. – Mattingly on Realmuto, quoted by Joe Frisaro on MLB.COM

Hope was still thick in the air after Miami’s first victory of the season, a 2-1, walkoff victory against the Chicago Cubs. It took 17 innings, and heroics from every part of the game, but the Miami Marlins were the winners at the end.

Caleb Smith started for the Marlins, and got eight Cubs to miss by the time he was lifted, after 5 1/3 innings. The only blemish on an otherwise scoreless outing was a third-inning moonshot by Kris Bryant, his first of the season. Opposing starter Kyle Hendricks also got touched in the third and then not again. Starlin Castro brought home Lewis Brinson to tie it at one.

Then the two clubs traded zeroes for the next four hours and change. For the Marlins, Jacob Turner got two outs, then Drew Steckenrider, Kyle Barraclough, and Brad Ziegler each tossed an effective inning of relief. Jarlin Garcia had a signature game, holding the Cubs to one hit and striking out six in six innings, working the 10th through the 15th frames. After a Chris O’Grady inning, Odrisamer Despaigne, ostensibly a starter, came on for the 17th.

Brian Anderson got things started with two outs in the bottom of that inning, with a single, then he moved to second on a Cameron Maybin single. Miguel Rojas brought BA home with a single into center field.

Despaigne collected the victory, and Cubs reliever Brendan Morrow lost after facing one batter.

It was amazing after 17 innings, and they brought their closer in, too,” Rojas said. “They brought their best guy in that situation. I felt like watching him in his warmups. I felt that was so important, because watching him, I saw he was trying to get a feel for the strike zone. – Rojas, quoted by Joe Frisaro on MLB.COM

On July 11th, again at Marlins Park, Starlin Castro brought home Brian Anderson with a walkoff win in the 12th inning.

Winners of so many things last season, including the Christian Yelich sweepstakes, it was nice to take two-of-three from Milwaukee at our house.

Dan Straily pitched six serviceable innings, allowing two runs on four hits and a pair of walks. He also struck out seven. In the meantime, Marlins hitters touched Freddy Peralta for a three spot before the end of the fourth inning.

Jesus Aguilar opened the scoring in the top of the first on an RBI-double, then in the third, Yelich added an RBI-single for a 2-0 lead. In the fourth, Castro brought home Anderson with a sacrifice fly, Justin Bour hit a solo home run for his 15th of the season, and Straily drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Fish a 3-2 lead.

That held until the sixth, when the Marlins added a run on a Bryan Holaday RBI-single.

The Crew came back in the bottom of the eighth against Drew Steckenrider on an Aguilar two-RBI-double, and neither team scored in the ninth.

Brad Ziegler tossed a scoreless seetnh, Barraclough walked three and also struck out the side in the ninth, then Adam Conley worked a hitless 10th, whiffing two.

Elieser Hernandez then worked a pair of scoreless innings, striking out three batters. In the bottom half of the 12th, Brewers reliever Jorge Lopez was greeted by a Garrett Cooper single. Cooper moved to second on a JT Riddle groundout, then Lopez intentionally walked Brian Anderson. That’s when magic-man Castro smoked a single into left field, bringing Cooper home.

They can hit. They have an amazing bullpen, probably the best that we’ve seen after the Yankees. We battled. We put together a lot of good at-bats. We’re fighting. –  Castro to Joe Frisaro at MLB.COM

They had one of their horses out there, a guy with an incredible track record. We just kept fighting and fighting, and we were able to get to him and their bullpen late. – Brian Anderson, speaking about Madison Bumgarner to Joe Frisaro via MLB.COM

Evan Longoria started up the scoring in the third inning off Miami starter Wei-Yin Chen, with an RBI-single to center field. In the bottom of the fourth, the Marlins took the lead on a Brian Anderson home run and a Lewis Brinson RBI-triple.

Miami’s 2-1 lead was a little too delicate to stop the Giants for long, however. Andrew McCutchen doubled home Gorkys Hernandez, Chen balked home Buster Posey, and then walked Nick Hundley with the bases loaded to put the Miami Marlins in a 4-2 hole.

Chen ended up striking out five in 4 1/3 innings, but also gave up four runs on six hits and four walks. Luckily for him, he was bailed out as the pitcher of record in the sixth inning, when Cameron Maybin brought home Anderson on a sac fly, and Brinson collected an RBI-single to tie the game.

The Giants took a 5-4 lead in the seventh on a Crawford sacrifice fly, but Anderson answered in the bottom of the inning with an RBI-double to tie it. Realmuto smacked his seventh tater of the season for what would be the decider.

After Chen’s issues, Brad Ziegler worked 2/3 of a scoreless inning, followed by Drew Rucinski‘s one-run sixth. Conley worked a 1-2-3, striking out two and earning the win, Drew Steckenrider tossed a scorless eighth, and Kyle Barraclough earned his third save of the season with a perfect ninth.

Just two days later, JT Riddle earned a Victory Pie from Miguel Rojas.

The Giants were still in town, and had already dropped the first two games of this four game series to the Miami Marlins.

Trevor Richards, in his seventh start, finally earned his first career major league victory. But it didn’t start out easy.

The Giants got to Richards early. Joe Panik and Buster Posey both got on base with free passes before Richards collected an out. Andrew McCutchen obliged with a swinging K, but Panik scored on a Brandon Crawford groundout.

After that, Richards was on point, more or less. He only surrendered one more walk and a pair of hits over six innings. Despite striking out a season-low two batters, he was happy to finally get that first win in the books.

It’s good to get that one out of the way. It’s been too long. It’s good to get it done and continue it on from here. I think I’m the first Drury pitcher to win an MLB game. Just continue to build from here. – Richards, to Joe Frisaro on MLB.COM

When the third inning came around, the Miami Marlins pounced on Giants starter Chris Stratton. Derek Dietrich hit a leadoff single, and Brian Anderson moved him to second via HBP. After a J.T. Realmuto lineout, Justin Bour drew a walk to juice the bags. Starlin Castro brought home Anderson with an RBI-single, and Riddle hit a two-run-double with the eventual game-winner.

Down the stretch, Adam Conley, Brad Ziegler, and Kyle Barraclough each worked a scoreless inning.

On July 9th, the Miami Marlins dealt the Milwaukee Brewers a 4-3, 10-inning walkoff loss.

Bryan Holaday, despite his status as a light-hitting backup catcher, was the hero of the day when he brought home Miguel Rojasin the bottom of the 10th.

The Marlins got into an early hole on a Lorenzo Cain third inning RBI-single and a Jesus Aguilar solo shot in the fourth.

Holaday collected an RBI in the bottom of the fourth with a sacrifice fly, bringing home JT Riddle to halve the lead.

Aside from those three runs, neither team could again cross the plate until the seventh inning. This, despite starters Jose Urena and Chase Anderson combined to allow 15 hits and three walks in 10 1/3 innings.

In the seventh, Starlin Castro and Brian Anderson went back-to-back off Uber-reliever Josh Hader to get the Marlins on top, 3-2. One person thinks that Castro’s at bat was the best of 2018.

He put up a good fight. I tried to switch it up and get him with my inside fastball and then elevated after that. He got the pitch. – Hader, in Sam Miller‘s excellent writeup

But the Crew wasn’t finished. Travis Shaw tied it in the bottom of the eighth inning off Drew Steckenrider on a single into right field. That set the stage for Holaday’s walkoff.

There’s usually no Gatorade showers on the road, and there was not an exception for Isaac Galloway in Nationals Park.

It was a long time coming for the 28-year-old rookie, who played 11 seasons in the Miami Marlins minor league system before finally cracking the active roster in mid-2018.

Wei-Yin Chen surrendered two runs in 5 2/3 innings, and was matched on the hill by Jerry Rodriguez, who also allowed two earned runs (but also two unearned).

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Tayron Guerrero and Drew Steckenrider both blew saves, in the seventh and ninth innings respectively. Steckenrider eventually was the winning pitcher of record when Galloway stroked a two-run single into center field in the top of the 10th. Brett Graves came in for the save, pitching a perfect 10th inning.

In the midst of all that, JT Riddle collected four RBI, going three-for-four with a double and a home run.

It’s a heck of a way to end our list. I hope you enjoy watching these games on MLB.TV as we bide our time in wait for the next season to be here.

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